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This is an archive article published on February 19, 2010

Gunners made to pay for goalkeeping errors

Porto punished two goalkeeping blunders to beat Arsenal 2-1 and Bayern Munichs late winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina...

Porto punished two goalkeeping blunders to beat Arsenal 2-1 and Bayern Munichs late winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Fiorentina was clearly offside on a dramatic night in the Champions League.

Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski fumbled a cross from Silvestre Varela into his own net to concede the opening goal and then handled a backpass by team mate Sol Campbell prior to Portos second goal.

Although Campbells header had made it 1-1 for his first Champions League goal since the 2006 final,the second strike by Falcao from a quickly taken free kick after Fabianskis error gave Porto a first-leg victory to take to London.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger criticised referee Martin Hansson,the Swedish official who didnt see Thierry Henrys handball against Ireland in a World Cup playoff in November. Wenger said Hansson was wrong to rule Campbell had passed the ball back to his keeper and should have allowed his defenders time to prepare for it. I believe it was accidental,the back pass. Sol touched it accidentally, Wenger said. The referee should give us time to build the wall. It was a massive mistake. It was a double mistake. It was a penalty for us as well when Tomas Rosicky went down just before.

Bayern made it 13 victories in a row in all competitions by beating Fiorentina in Munich. Arjen Robben fired the German side into a half-time lead with a penalty in the third minute of first-half stoppage time,the Dutch winger scoring for the sixth game in a row. Per Kroldrup,who had given away the penalty for a foul on Franck Ribery,replied for Fiorentina early in the second half but Miroslav Klose headed the winner in the 89th minute from an offside position.

 

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